This invention relates to foil jewelry and a method of making foil jewelry and in particular to foil jewelry made from thin metal foil. The method permits thin metal foil which is normally too flexible to be used for jewelry to be shaped into unique designs, which designs impart rigidity and strength to the foil.
The jewelry industry is highly competitive and lower cost attractive jewelry is sought by the consumer. The price of jewelry made of precious metals is highly dependent on the metal weight of the final product. This has lead to the need to develop jewelry with less metal weight which has the look, strength and feel of jewelry with more weight.
One example of lowering the metal weight of jewelry is to form hollow rope chain rather than solid rope chain. The hollow rope chain has up to 60 percent less metal than its solid counterpart, but with the look, feel and hardness of a solid rope chain. As the price of precious metals increases the need for attractive jewelry with less precious metal requirement is needed.
This has prompted jewelry manufacturers to seek methods of creating jewelry that looks aesthetically similar to heavier products with similar strength characteristics. Therefore, by way of example in the gold jewelry industry reducing weight of gold is an important cost reduction goal. The problem has been that as the gold material is reduced in thickness to reduce its weight, the flexibility of the gold increases and the final product looses its rigidity.
What is needed is a thin precious metal piece of jewelry which has the look and feel of its heavier counterpart and a method of making the jewelry which assures a consistently rigid and strong product.